Supreme Court sends temporary taking case back to Fed. Circuit

The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals will have to reconsider its conclusion that flooding caused by the Army Corps of Engineers’ operation of a dam did not cause a “taking” of forest land owned by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg read the court’s bench statement this morning summarizing its opinion, issued before arguments began for the day. The court found that government-caused flood damage did not have to permanent to be considered a taking of public land that might require just compensation.

[Also of interest to ESWR readers is today’s second argument, concerning a Ninth Circuit decision that found the Los Angeles County Flood Control District in violation of its stormwater permit for discharges into the San Gabriel and Los Angeles rivers. Video of the press statements after the argument will be posed here after the arguments conclude.]

Video taken following yesterday’s arguments, about whether EPA’s silviculture exemption covers runoff from two logging roads in Oregon, also will be posted later.